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Well, Barry, the Venturing division has called that "stealth advancement" it's a great approach if scouters are satisfied with 1 in every thousand boys moving beyond First Class. What's very interesting: nobody is nagging any of my venturers to earn venturing awards (old or new). So, how I choose to advise the occasional youth who chooses to go for an award comes under zero criticism. Fact is, I try to stay as mum as possible about Eagle to our youth. We have enough older scouts proposing projects and having special courts of honor that the cycle seems pretty much self-sustaining. That sh

I'm not entirely comfortable with the content of scoutmaster conferences being dictated by National. I don't mind guidelines. And, although I'm perfectly fine talking to folks about religious convictions and hearing what other folks have to say, I can imagine a lot of the leaders I know not being entirely comfortable with it. You all have heard my opinion about service hours having no business in rank advancement. Religion is kind of the same thing. These become "uncounted" requirements. Yes they are in every handbook, but outside of scouting the 21 merit badges is what gets recognition.

Not fair! You skipped "forming", "storming", and "norming"!

Ideally a UC should come on a regular schedule and NOT when they need something from a unit leader. After routinely sitting in on a couple of meetings and being clear that he/she wants nothing but to get to know yours and a couple of other units, both UC and leader(s) will figure out when it is and isn't good to bring up anything. For some leaders that will be during the meeting; for others, with a note or E-mail afterwords; for others, coffee may need to be served.

The insignia guide shows "chair" patch (#18059), but http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/CubScouts/Leaders/About/ThePack/pcomm.aspx shows the old "chairman". Seeing that she is more homo-sapiens than furniture, I think the most appropriate designation is the latter. But, who am I to prescribe language?

Hate to break it to you, but that expectation was always there. Awards were never intended to be for the elite 1 in 1000 venturers. My take: I'm telling my youth that I expect them to be growing. As they do, I would be honored if they talked to me about how that's happening for them. From there it's just a matter of paperwork. So far they ain't biting.

I could envision the hypothetical Lone Scout raising funds for his council -- No strings attached. I could then see that scout benefiting from those funds by applying for a camper-ship that would be awarded without consideration of how much the boy raised. There are boys who just care about helping fellow scouts who they've never met.

P18A, a functioning UC, when "on", is always a phone call away, and can tap a number of seasoned scouters throughout the district to address any given unit's novel concerns. (Or, sometimes, can frankly tell members of a unit that they have a problem that will only be solved when people decide to hold one another in higher esteem than they are currently willing.) His/her presence at meetings is merely to make unit leaders comfortable with giving him that call. I would like to propose that the underlying BSA model is broken. There are too few competent UCs. As mentioned before, many

More interesting: is this a "back door" for girls to enter the program at cub and Boy Scout ages? Frankly I could use a few more youth who "get" the science behind map and compass before I tray to teach it.

Don't sweat it. This is just Learning for Life re-cast with a little more obvious application of "Scout" language. Smokey Mountain saw a need. It's filling it. The program that st0ut17 deftly laid out, is troop-centric, which caters to about 1/4 of STEM Scouts' population.

It sounds like you're in a "when in Rome" mashed up with a "it's just a piece of paper" situation. Kind of like when I was made crew advisor, it was an "on paper only" kind of thing (I even felt that of the adults we could choose from I was least qualified for it), and I pushed back saying "I hate paperwork too much to fill it out for nothing." The best you can do in cases like these, is set the example. Get to know the campground managers. They often know of places you could take the boys for an outpost camp. Encourage the group to respect Mom, but when your arrive at "glamgrou

Trees are a pretty good idea most days. Since you car camp, don't skimp on rope and stakes. You'll go through a few before you figure out what works best for you. But pay attention to which trees and the season. A couple of years ago at this time, I strung one between two very tall oak trees. However, this is when they begin to drop their acorns! Think hiding behind a target on the sling-shot range and you get the idea . Except nobody yells "fire" when the next volley is about to drop .

If your site has decent trees, rope for a ridge line and guy lines for the corners is all you need to support a decent size tarp. The trick is to tie "stops" in your ridge line so the center of your tarp stays stretched. If you're in the open, you'll want a set of poles and decent stakes to replace the trees. Walking sticks will do if you aren't setting up a base camp. You can either rig an a-frame or lean-to pretty easily. With a little origami, you can get by with one pole and fashion a shelter that's taller on the door side and tapers down to your feet. I don't worry about bugs, anything t

I think one of the most significant flaws in this organization is conflating leadership with a pach on the sleave. If you want to start leading, love your brother scouts and take care of them. Some PLs will lead others will just manage. The managers will get by just fine if the boys are caring for one another (i.e., if they are leading). The leaders might not manage all that well, but because they care, they'll be fine regardless.

Check out old articles of Boy's Life and Scouting Magazine. (They have online versions.) Definitely float what you got by your boys. If you get mostly "thumbs up" on a recipe, incorporated it. Have fun working your ticket.

Yeah, convincing parents that you know the boys' limitations and have the good sense to pick a safe place for them to operate in real patrols is rough. Parents have a really tough time letting go. I see it at sports too. Everyone wants to be the coach and captain, especially on the teams that have really good coaches and captains! BTW ... you could have a crew of 14-15 y.o. venturers experiencing the same thing - even though, aside from the few hours of age-appropriate challenge, they're tasked with little more than what you would assign to your 12 year old scouts! My line to pa

Getting 30 older boys to do anything in unison during fall sports season is nigh impossible. Think about it this way: if they were 4 patrols of tightly knit boys, at the PLC, three of them would report that they weren't going to the council camporee because they had commitments elsewhere (football Friday, soccer Saturday, helping with bonfire that evening, camping after the bonfire, maybe inviting their girlfriends to hang out, church picnic on Sunday). You'd say, "very well then as long as you aren't robbing liquor stores to buy drugs .... And [to the patrol that's camping independently] I'll

See if you can get together with the new DL and make those calls. Use speaker-phone if possible. That way you can both know what's happening instantly. And let the parents know you're backing your DL. He or she says "Hi __, I'm just callingto touch base. I'm with CM Daped01 on speaker. We missed you and __ last night and wanted to make sure you all are doing well." That way there's a little bit more respect conveyed. It could be as simple as the school had a one-off evening meeting, or that you all picked a bad night because all the boys signed up for something that night every week. You

You are both right. Sort of. Pay attention to what your boys want. Make it clear that they can cross-over any time between AOL (which happens to be your banquet) and May. If they want to do pack stuff, let them stay. If they want to do troop stuff, let them crossover. If you are all going to the same troop, just make sure the boys have all the info they need to sign up for summer camp in a timely fashion.

Welcome to the forums, G.B. Let your CC and your COR know the details just in case they see your name in any public notices. unless hey have a thing against traffic scofflaws on the run, you should be fine.

Agreed. These kids are finding hiking and camping independently to be truly important. So, they make spending that $20 on a weekend in the woods a priority over a registration card in their pocket -- the cost of which goes to background check a cadre of adults who they don't need or want around anyway. They pick adventure over Venturing. What a shock! You depression era folks can go say "been there, done that", but that's RS's point. Most of us did scouting when there was a slush fund (inherited, or hours learning the family business, mom's fundraisers, or working odd jobs, it really does

R.S. - That is happening again with the rise in registration fees. I have a number of crew who drop and sign up part-year when there is an activity they want to attend.

Here's a question for you to get beyond the "kicking around in my head" phase. Ask it of the SPL: Do your boys have a desire to be specialists? Do some take pride in being the troop marksman, others the athlete, others the mechanic, others the scientist, others the artist? If the SPL says yes, then follow-up with this question: Do you think the PLC would like to come up with a way for boys to prove they own such titles by earning a particular set of related non-required badges? Should it be something that can be put on the temporary insignia parts of the uniform? If yes,